Marina
Aah, to think that my sumr break is almost over…
I’m going to miss Hugo again for sure…
I was now walking up to the hills where I usually trained his magic in. It was the last day before I had to return so I fully intended to make it a worthwhile session.
Whoosh…
"Ah…" I quickly put my hands behind , pulling down my dress. The day was quite windy, so I had to be careful with my dress or else Hugo would be able to look at my panties.
Oh, who was I kidding? I wanted him to look.
Ever since his incident with Sherry, where he, well, got terribly intimate with the girl, I realized sothing.
He wouldn't need
anymore with her around.
I would go back to school, and stayed my lonely, bullied self there, while he would be happy, playing with Sherry as much as he wanted to.
I was jealous.
And that disgusted . A big sister was supposed to be happy if her little brother was happy. And yet, my heart was feeling this way.
The worst part was that I didn't even know whether I was jealous of him because he had a close friend around, or I was jealous of Sherry for being able to be with him much more than I could.
Oh Hugo… if only you could co to the academy with … Oh he would definitely try to protect
from that rinda girl… he is my little knight in shining armor after all…
Another breeze blew, raising up my dress again. I looked backwards and saw him imdiately averting his gaze with a blush once he noticed I was looking. So cute!
Hmm, I think I know now. The perfect parting gift for him.
Hugo
Urgh, really Sis? You should really be more careful with your dress. That's the, what, seventh ti I saw your panties today? They might be knee-length but they're really susceptible to the slightest gust of wind that blew, you know.
Whoooshh...
Goddamnit, here we go again. Why must she wear such skimpy pink panties anyway? Doesn't she know how sexy they looked? And she already knew I "could already appreciate the female body" too.
Wait, don't tell
that she actually wanted
to look at them?
“Alright, Hugo.” Unfortunately, my train of thought was interrupted by her. Huh. Before I noticed, we had arrived at the top of the hill.
“It’s ti for your yearly final test. Just like , you too have to know what it’s like to be asked to demonstrate all the magic that you know to your teacher.” She must be talking about the academy. “We have been learning advanced level magic this sumr, correct?”
“Y-yes, Sis!” I answered. Suddenly, her deanor transford into that of a teacher. It was honestly amazing, how a re 11-year old girl could have such a mature presence.
“Then, show
all the spells that you could do.” With a grin, she moved out of the way, letting
take the center stage.
I gulped. Now all of a sudden I felt nervous. Why did she have to say it’s a test? I was never good at tests. Well, I once was, when I was still considered a genius that got straight A’s in every exam. But for the rest of my life, I could only barely pass my exams.
No, this is different. I have trained hard with Marina for the entire sumr. I’m no longer the lazy, cram-everything-in-the-last-day guy I was before. I can do this. I can do this!
I took a deep breath. First, Fire.
“Oh, one more thing.” Damn it, she interrupted ! “I want you to cast them all chantless.” She added with a grin.
“B-but Sis!” I protested. “I’ve never done any of them chantless before! You had
learn them with a chant and once I could do them, you would imdiately go to the next elent!”
“Oh shush, You can do it." She dismissed
entirely! "You should rember the feeling of casting those spells, right? The flow of mana and how you form them to weave the spells? For you, who had cast magic without chanting all his life, this should be a piece of cake."
Now I felt like I was being pressured even more!
I took another deep breath and cald myself. I reached both my hands upwards and then closed my eyes. I imagined the spell, Fla Wall. A wall made of fire. The shape? A circle around . The radius? Ten ters. The height? Two ters.
Co on, co on, make it work!
And then, it did. A blaze of flas suddenly appeared around . Ten ters away and two ters tall. Just like I imagined it
"I-I did it!"
"I knew you could!" Marina cheered from outside the circle. Even through the flas, I could tell that she looked very happy.
Alright! I'm going to ace the other elents as well!
I was now excited instead of nervous. I could do it! I now had the perfect confidence!
I put the fire out by disconnecting my mana flow. Then, I moved on to the next elent.
Water. Water Spout. Summoned a powerful geyser from the ground.
Earth. Earthen Break. Made the ground explode into hundreds of rocks and dirt.
Thunder. Thunder Strike. Created a thundercloud that fired off a powerful lightning.
Ice. Cold Blast. Enveloped the target in a large blanket of ice and snow.
Wind. Air Sunder. Created a miniature cyclone.
When I was done, I was completely out of breath. My mana was completely drained and I had to sit down in fear of passing out. But I was happy, as I had passed her test with flying colors. I could hear her clapping with pride before she approached .
“Well done, Hugo, well done!” She ruffled my head. She probably would’ve hugged
if she wasn’t still in her teacher persona. “To think that you could do all that chantless, and without a wand as well! Normally, you have to start using wands to cast Interdiate-level magic and above, you know!”
“E-eheheheheh…” I could only give her my grin. I was too tired to say anything else.
“So, as your teacher, I have a gift for you.”
She took out her wand and then flicked it in front of her. Suddenly, a rectangular-shaped wooden box popped out of thin air. She grabbed it before it could fall to the ground.
“Spatial magic.” She spoke to
with a proud smile. “Interdinsional storage.”
Right, space magic. She had introduced
to it before. Unlike elental spells, I seed to have no talent in it whatsoever. It belonged to the “miscellaneous” family of magic, as it didn’t have the rigid classification of levels that elental magic had. The only spatial magic I could cast was a simple teleport on a non-living being. A pebble, to be exact. I could move it for around one ter, and that’s that.
“Here.” She handed over the box to .” Open it.”
I examined the book with a confused yet curious look. It was pitch black, and it was made with the smoothest wood I had ever encountered. I couldn’t really tell what kind of wood it was unfortunately.
I opened it, and there, inside, was a wand.
“It’s your own wand, Hugo. Take it out, will you?” I looked back at her, and saw that she was smiling so brightly that it was almost blinding. And were those tears I saw pooling in her eyes?
“It’s my gift for you, for being an Advanced-level mage. Use it with pride.”
I took it out as gingerly as I could. It seed so… fragile, as if I could just snap it in two with my two hands. And it looked quite different than the one she had. Her wand had a red crystal on the tip and was brown in color, while this was just a straight slim stick that beca slimr as it got nearer to the tip.
“Sorry for not giving it to you earlier.” She continued, wiping off her right eye with her index finger. “But I wanted to see how far you could get without a wand. And to think that you could cast Advanced-level magics barehanded… you’re amazing, Hugo! Oh, if only there isn't that stupid rule, you could've entered the academy with
for sure! You are already far smarter and more skilled in magic than all the ten year olds that enrolled with !"
She couldn’t hold herself back any further. She gave
a hug so tight that I was hurting a little from it. She didn’t even care that I was soaking with sweat. “Oh, I’m going to miss you, my cute little brother…” Once again, she brought
to her budding chest. She really was fond of this move, wasn’t she?
I decided that I would indulge her little brother complex however. I too quickly felt overwheld by all the emotions that were flowing through . For a long ti in my old life, I always felt worthless. I couldn't achieve anything that I could be proud of. But now—now I felt that I had accomplished sothing that mattered. Sothing that made
feel… special.
Well, she’s still more special than
though. What I just did was all single-elent Advanced spells. And she, from a year ago, could already cast several multi-elent ones. And they were naturally more difficult than what I just perford.
There was no jealousy in my heart however. Only pride—pride that my big sister could be such a genius and talented magician. That part of my old self, who would scorn his little sister who was much more intelligent than him, was no longer inside .
Releasing
from her embrace, she stood up, eyes still wet and sparkly. "Here. Let
show you my ultimate magic before we go ho. Just so you could see what one day you would no doubt be able to accomplish."
She told
to move away, which I quickly obeyed. And then, she drew her wand and aid it straight to the ground a distance away in front of her.
"O power that lay hidden beneath the Earth! Hear my plea! Grant
the blessings and bounties of nature, so that I might shake this very world with your manifestation! Spread your roots far and wide, and let your bark and leaves beco my sword and shield! Beco the very tree that illuminates the world’s foundations! Grow and flourish, o great Yggdrasil! Judge those that dared defile the land!”
It was a very long incantation, and she did not hurry in the slightest as she spoke the words. Her speech was deliberate and pronounced, almost as if she was reciting a poem. It took almost a whole minute until she finished.
And then, the world trembled.
“W-whatt? E-earthquake?”
No, it wasn’t. Not in the slightest. It was the shaking of sothing huge, coming from the ground right underneath us. Unlike , she was standing completely unfazed, staring at the large clearing in front of her.
And then, a massive tree punctured the ground in front of her like it was nothing, growing taller and taller until its shade covered both of us entirely.
“Master-level Earth magic. Yggdrasil.” She turned towards
with a smile. “I learned it just before I returned back ho.”
I could only stare in awe, completely speechless on the display in front of .
Once again, she proved to
that it was still very, very far until I could catch up to her.
----
We returned back ho afterwards (the tree simply returned back to the ground after she was finished with her demonstration, and the hole left behind was nothing that her Earth magic couldn’t fix), after she made sure to make
promise that I too would learn a Master-level spell one day. She jokingly suggested that I would be able to cast it at the end of the next sumr. I quickly refuted her, of course. There’s no way I could learn such a spell just the next year!
“And besides, didn’t you explain once before that knowing how to cast a Master-level magic ans you can graduate from the academy? Doesn’t this an that you could just graduate right away?”
"It is the bare minimum, yes. To graduate, you have to be able to cast at least a single Master-level spell. However, most students would graduate with two or three under their belt. There are even students who graduated with even more Master-level spells. And so, the handful elite they said, that only appeared once every ten years—they managed to reach the highly covered Grandmaster-level.”
I rembered that. That’s the level above Master, just below Saint. If you managed to reach that level as a mage, you would pretty much be a superstar in the Magocracy. You would beco famous in no ti, and you would have the right to sit on the ruling council of mages they had there. Well, if there was an opening. If not, then you would have to challenge one of them in a mage vs mage duel. If you won, then you could replace him or her as a council mber. At least, that’s what Marina had told .
“So, Sis, are you aiming for that level before you graduate?” I asked with a grin. I could certainly imagine her reaching that summit with the rate she was growing right now. She returned with her own shy smile. “I don’t know, to be honest. But after Father spent a large sum of our family’s gold on the entrance fee, I certainly wouldn’t waste the remaining five years I would spend there.”
“Five years, huh? And after that?”
“After that?” She looked at
with a slight tilt to her head.
“What do you want to do after that? After you graduate?”
She paused. "I have no idea to be honest. I suppose I would find so work as a mage, whatever that could be."
"Then, how about becoming adventurers? With
and Sherry! She could be the frontline fighter while we fire off spells from the back! Just like a proper party!"
There. I said it. My current goal for the future. Form an adventuring party with her and Sherry. Then we could all go on exciting adventures together. Why would you not be an adventurer if you’re in a fantasy world, huh?
With a smile, she ruffled my hair once again. "Oh Hugo, you still need a healer, you know? No adventuring party can ever be good without one."
"Then, how about you, Sis? Can you learn so healing magic?"
“No, unfortunately. The Academy doesn’t really teach Holy Magic, you see, which healing magic belongs under, in case you don’t rember. That branch of magic belongs more to the followers of Milicis and their religious schools. And, as I’ve told you before, the mages of Mira don’t really get along well with them.” She never really told
the reason why they didn’t get along. Only that it was caused by differences in their beliefs. Yeah, I could imagine that. From what I read and I heard from Sherry, the Milicis faith was pretty similar to dieval-era Catholicism in my world. So I imagined they would share the sa zealotry and intolerance as well. Hmm, I wonder what the Saint herself would say if she saw them today.
“I guess we just have to find a cleric first then! Hey, how about Mother? She used to be one, right?”
“Hmm? What kind of an adventuring party brings their mother along? That sounds more like a family picnic to . Might as well bring Father along too for a second fighter.” She giggled.
I grinned back. It was just a joke suggestion of course. It would be really la and embarrassing if I had to bring around Mother or Father on my adventures. Sorry, Dad. Mom.”
We continued to chat as we walked ho, accompanied by a beautiful reddish-gold sunset behind us. And before we knew it, we already arrived.
----
The next morning, Marina departed early, right after breakfast. Another two weeks trip to a foreign school. And just like how she arrived, she returned there alone as well. We all watched and waved our hands as the carriage rolled away, including Sherry. Goodbye, Sis. I’ll make sure to keep writing you letters on how my magic lessons are going!
Before she left though, she whispered sothing interesting to . “Hey, Hugo. Check under your bed later. I left you two more presents there. Keep them until I get back ho next sumr, alright? Oh, and don't tell Sherry or anyone else!”
Hmm, what's up with the secrecy? Well, whatever. I already showed off my new wand to everyone. I didn't need to show off these two additional presents from her.
I imdiately rushed back to my room. Just as she told , there was another box right under my bed. With glimring, excited eyes, I imdiately crawled down to get it, pulling it out as fast as I could. And then, I opened it right away.
A book?
I took it out. The title said, "The Adventures of The Legendary Archmage and Hero.” It seed to be a picture book made for kids. I opened the cover and found a little parchnt put inside. Hmm, it seed to be a handwritten note from Marina.
This is a little picture book I purchased in Mira. I’ve read it so I thought I’ll give it to you. You might find it a little amusing.
Huh, alright then. I’ll have a read on it later. I put it away for now, eager to look at the other present that she had left .
Only to find that it was—
“P-p-panties?!”
There was no mistake about it. That fabric inside the box—they were a girl’s panties for sure!
“T-that pinkness… n-no, it couldn’t be…” I gingerly picked them up. “No way… This… this really is Marina’s panties! The one she wore yesterday!” I spread them open. Yep, no doubt about it! The sa shape, the sa skimpiness, it was definitely hers! “W-w-why are they here?!” I looked back at the box. There’s another piece of parchnt there! Quickly, I put the panties down and read what’s written on it.
And this is my other gift for you, Hugo. Since you seem to like them so much, I thought, "Why not give them to you?" So here they are. Freshly worn and not washed. Just like you like it, right? Use them to rember , your big sister, alright?
P.S. Hide them behind your wardrobe. Mother never cleans up there.
I fell backwards, landing butt first on the carpet below.
“W-whaaaaaaat?!!!”
-----
A/N:
Sorry guys, the cao isn’t happening until next chapter after all. This part is longer than expected.
Also, Marina’s panties. Don't click if you don't want lewd.
Spoiler
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